Our planet faces a huge dilemma with human-induced climate change directly linked to greenhouse gas emissions. If we do not act now we risk missing the main goals laid out in the 2015 Paris Agreement; the first being to achieve net zero by 2050, the second being to limit global warming by maintaining a temperature well below 2℃, preferably 1.5℃. In its August 2021 report, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) forecast that the limit of 1.5℃ would be reached by 2040 unless drastic measures on reducing carbon emissions were not taken immediately. These goals, amongst other imminent environmental concerns (such as biodiversity loss), will be discussed at the UN Climate Change Conference, Cop 26, taking place in Glasgow between 1^st-12^th November 2021.

Standards can play a significant part in accelerating the transition to a net zero economy. They provide clear and practical guidance for organizations of all sizes and sectors to mitigate - and adapt to - climate change. 

As the UK National Standards Body, BSI is at the core of several initiatives centred around climate action, examples being PAS 2060, a standard which supports organizational claims of carbon neutrality, and the Faraday Battery Challenge standardization programme, supported by the UK Government, which centres on innovation in energy storage for electric vehicles. In September 2021, BSI played a key role in drafting the London Declaration, signed at the 75^th anniversary of ISO Week in London, which commits ISO to consider the climate impacts in all its standards and facilitates the involvement in standardization of those most vulnerable to climate change. The London Declaration has also been endorsed by the IEC and CEN/CENELEC.